Don't Stop Praying
By: Matthew West
Genre: Christian Non-Fiction/Christian Living
Summary:
Join Matthew West in his latest addition to his book repertoire. Not only does Matthew pick the Lord's Prayer apart and take you through it line by line, he pulls the curtain back on it to explain it. He brings in personal experiences from his own life to show how they influenced, or strengthened, his own prayer life. And, since it's the name of one of his songs, he talks about the origin of how the song came to be and the impact it had on him.
When you hear the name Matthew West, most of us connect him to the Christian music he's put out. However, he's been adding author to his name over the years, as well. I've always enjoyed his past books, so I expected nothing different with Don't Stop Praying. And I wasn't disappointed.
He starts the book of with telling you of an exercise he and one of his daughter's did while at a camp. When you have to be a 2 person team and one of them is blindfolded, you just know a lesson is in the making. When the blindfolded one is depended on the other's voice- and that voice is eventually silenced except for one statement, things just got real. The 2 are always near, never really separated. But how easy it was to forget the instructions given in the beginning when real life confusion sets in.
So, yeah. I was hooked. **All participants were safe and never injured. (Just in case you were concerned. Like I was)
Matthew tackles the role of prayer in our lives. My favorite part was when he dissected The Lord's Prayer- line by line. He explains each line and how it applies to our lives now. He reminds you how powerful prayer is- even when you don't see the results you wanted. He informs you the whole purpose behind prayer and the connection with God is starts.
He lists the different types of prayer- for strength, courage, miracles. He doesn't leave out the controversial- pray for your enemies. Not a loved one, but a necessary one. He explains why praying for the people you don't like is important. Again, not everyone's favorite prayer topic, but a necessary one.
Each chapter ends with a prayer challenge and questions to dig deeper with. So Matthew really makes the book an interactive read for you to engage with instead of just read. And while the book isn't a long one (around 270 pages), he packs a lot into those pages.
If you're looking to work on your prayer life, I encourage you to pick this book up. If you're looking to challenge your prayer life, I encourage you to let Don't Stop Praying be a way to do it.
